Pakistani Madrassa cleric arrested for turning teenage boys into suicide bombers

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Majority of Pakistanis are against the suicide attacks being carried out in the country by banned terror outfits in the name of religion, a poll has revealed. According to a poll conducted by Washington's Pure Research Centre, 87 percent Pakistanis did not support the suicide attacks.

August 12th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - A madrassa teacher allegedly thrashed a nine-year-old student with an iron rod before burning his hands with cigarettes. According to the Daily Times, Zaheer Hussain, of Dhoke Kangal, said his nephew Asif, 9, complained that his teacher Hafiz Majeed and senior student Khizar beat him up badly with an iron rod.

July 31st, 2009 MINGORA - The four teenage boys who were abducted by the Taliban to be trained as suicide bombers have revealed their harrowing experience during the captivity of the militants. Security officials presented the boys before the media where they revealed the atrocities that were meted out to them by the extremists.

July 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least one person was killed and three others wounded in a car bomb blast in North West Frontier Frontier Province's Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday. Officials said the car was parked inside a parking lot of the district courts, and a remote control device was used to trigger off the blast.

July 28th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Two-hundred boys, who were being trained at a secret location to carry out suicide attacks, were rescued by the security forces in northwest Pakistan, a media report said Monday. The boys, aged from six to 13 years, were rescued in Mardan in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Geo TV said.

July 8th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan, for the first time has admitted that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running a factory of suicide bombers, and using small children for the purpose. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson, Major General Athar Abbas said that Mehsud buys and sells children as young as 11 years old to be used as suicide bombers to strike strategic locations across the country.

July 4th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan intelligence agencies have warned that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud may target Chinese nationals in the country, as he has dispatched disabled teenage suicide bombers for the purpose. The Interior Ministry has issued a circular warning to all the concerned authorities about the threat.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running an 'assembly line' of suicide bombers to wreak havoc in the troubled nation. A report in The Washington Times quoted US officials as saying, that Mehsud is recruiting small children as young as six or seven, to serve as suicide bombers.

June 19th, 2009 LAHORE - The Taliban has dispatched three suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Islamabad and Lahore, it has been revealed. According to the Daily Times, one of the would-be suicide bombers, who was arrested earlier this month, has disclosed that the Taliban had sent two suicide bombers to Lahore and one to Islamabad to strike at important locations of the two cities.

June 14th, 2009 LAHORE - A man suspected to be involved in the bombing of a mosque here in which a prominent cleric who supported the military's ongoing anti-Taliban operations was killed has been arrested from Balochistan, a media report said. The suspect, identified as Muhammad Ilyas, was held from the Nasirabad area of Balochistan's Loralai district, some 100 km east of capital Quetta, Geo TV said.

June 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A prominent cleric who supported military offensives in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley and seven other people were killed Friday in two separate mosque bombings in the country, media reports said. Sarfraz Ahmad Naeemi was in his office adjacent to a mosque in the eastern city of Lahore when a teenage suicide bomber entered the building and blew himself up.

June 10th, 2009 LAHORE - A case has been registered against Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz for delivering a provocative speech in Taunsa Sharif, a private TV channel ha reported. According to the channel, Aziz - along with his family and son of former Lal Masjid deputy cleric Ghazi Abdul Rasheed - visited Hanfia Mirajul Uloom in Tibi Qisrani on June 5 and addressed a huge public gathering at 2pm on an invitation by the madrassa chief.

May 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan's restive northwest is to avenge the assault on the Lal Masjid here two years ago, says the chief cleric of the the mosque. Most of the students of the madrassa attached to the Lal Masjid belonged to Swat, Buner and Dir areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and were now extracting their revenge, Dawn Monday quoted Maulana Abdul Aziz, who was released last month after spending almost two years in jail, as saying.

April 26th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - Security has been beefed-up here following intelligence reports about two suicide bombers trying to enter the city. According to a senior police official, two out of six suicide bombers could enter Rawalpindi, and the remaining four could trigger suicide blasts in Karachi.

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban is recruiting children and teenagers in Pakistan to transform them into suicide bombers to carry out deadly attacks across the country, in which scores of people have been killed in the recent past. According to a report in the Daily Times, at least 5000 child suicide bombers aged between 10 to 17 years have been trained by the Taliban till now, and are waiting to strike at the orders of their masters.